On July 24, the return ceremony of the Buddha's head of Tianlongshan Grottoes was held in Taiyuan, Shanxi. The "Main Buddha's head of Cave 8, the North Wall of the Tianlongshan Grottoes, which had been lost overseas for nearly a century, finally returned to their hometown. At the same time, the special exhibition "Return of National Treasures on the Road to Revival" with Buddha's head as the core exhibit was held at the Tianlongshan Grottoes Museum in Taiyuan.
Tianlongshan Grottoes "The Master of Buddha's Head in the North Wall of Cave 8" (Photo provided by/State Cultural Relics Administration)
According to the Beijing Youth and Beijing Headlines reporter, this special exhibition takes the Master of Buddha's Head in the North Wall of Cave 8 of Tianlongshan Grottoes as the core, and comprehensively uses various forms such as precious cultural relics, historical pictures, digital restoration, 3D printing grottoes, etc. to comprehensively tell the comprehensive process of the loss and return of the cultural relics in Tianlongshan Grottoes, and show the latest achievements in investigation and research, archaeological excavation, restoration and protection of lost cultural relics.
At the opening ceremony of the special exhibition, Lu Qiong, director of the Policy and Regulations Department of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, presented a list of cultural relics to Yu Hao, director of the Tianlongshan Grotto Museum. Zhang Xinwei, deputy secretary of the Taiyuan Municipal Party Committee and mayor, awarded the "Honor Citizen" certificate to Zhang Rong, the donor of the Buddha. Zhang Rong said that he would donate the bonus issued by the Taiyuan Municipal Government to support the recovery and return of cultural relics. At the unveiling ceremony of
, the State Cultural Relics Administration issued a list of cultural relics collections (photo provided by/State Cultural Relics Administration)
, the Director of the State Cultural Relics Administration pointed out that the State Cultural Relics Administration, in conjunction with relevant departments, has gone through a tortuous pursuit process, which has led to the return of the Buddha's head of the Tianlongshan Grottoes and return to its original territory, becoming the first precious lost cultural relic to return from Japan to the Tianlongshan Grottoes in the past century. He stressed that the loss of cultural relics is an important part of China's cultural heritage, and the Chinese government reserves the right to pursue historical stolen and illegal export of cultural relics, including the loss of cultural relics in grottoes and temples. The Chinese government firmly supports the return of lost cultural relics to its original country and is willing to work with the international community to explore and establish institutional arrangements for properly solving the problem of returning lost cultural relics in history, and work together to build a more fair and just international order for the recovery and return of cultural relics.
Li Qun, Director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (Photo provided by/State Administration of Cultural Heritage)
Monitoring and Liaison of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage Promoted the return of the Buddha's head
00 is located in Tianlong Mountain, 40 kilometers southwest of Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province. It was first carved from the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Eastern Wei Dynasty, and later was excavated by the Northern Qi, Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasties, forming 25 caves and more than 500 statues. The grottoes are distributed from east to west on the waist of the East and West Peaks of Tianlong Mountain, about 500 meters long from east to west, with twelve caves of the East Peak and thirteen caves of the West Peak. Most of the grottoes face north and south. In 2001, the Tianlongshan Grottoes were announced by the State Council as the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
On September 14, 2020, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage discovered that Japan's Tokyo International Auction Co., Ltd. plans to auction a "Tang Tianlong Mountain Stone-Sculpture Buddha Head" in Tokyo, which belongs to the head of the main Buddha statue and Buddha niche in the north wall of the Tianlong Mountain Grottoes. The head of the Buddha was stolen and transported out of the country around 1924. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage contacted Mr. Zhang Rong, Chairman of the Auction House, to encourage the return of cultural relics. Zhang Rong negotiated with Japanese cultural relics holders to complete the negotiation and donated the Buddha's head to the State Administration of Cultural Relics for free. On December 12 last year, the Buddha's head arrived in Beijing safely, and experts tentatively designated it as a national first-class cultural relic.
text/Beijing Youth League-Beijing Headlines reporter Cui Yifei
Source: Beijing Headlines client
